There is No One Like You (Adv, Days 23/24; HelloGoodBye 09/10) [REPOST]
“I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer.”
–I Timothy 2.8, NIV
There are these days, when it is so difficult to find words that wrap around concepts, that, no matter how concrete in one’s mind, find it impossible to find substance in the barrier we use to communicate called language. In those moments, it seems that experience does precede existence and existentialism, for a moment, seems fun (and fun is clearly the wrong word, but for to-day, for this beautiful-day-before-Advent, will have to do).
Mr. Crowder crowed through the speakers “There is nooooo-one like You…” and in the seconds that followed slivers of eternity slipped through the wall of sound. The elders bowed, the beasts bellowed and the saints sang in holy adoration “Holy, Holy, Holy…”
Hope leaks into life in the most unexpected ways, ways that we’d never ask for, but cannot do without. We’d never ask for them because they hurt oh-so-badly; we cannot do without them because they are the pearls of great price, treasures to be cherished.
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I’ve been more intentional about writing lately (and the reason for that is coming…). The past two-and-a-half years have been epic, at the very least. The genesis of the journey was in March of O-Six, high-lighted by a late-night {spiritual} beat-down in July {thank you, Mark Driscoll}, and punctuated with new life that October. Two months later, on a frigid Friday in December, Pittsburgh was finally in view. Six apartments, three cities, and 80,000 miles on the Interstate later I landed just where I jumped from. I didn’t expect it, honestly, to be back here so soon, if ever…
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A Theology of Ethics, Truth, & Contemporary Applications
In a continuation of an exchange concerning Slavery in the Bible, some atheist critiques are addressed concerning ethics, the Bible, and modern society.
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[EDITOR'S NOTE: At my personal blog, the long way home, I have been working on a series of posts responding to some old atheist friends of mine on the topic of slavery, ethics, and the Bible. So far: what the Bible says, why I'm doing the series, Philosophy & Ethics, and now, Theology & Ethics. If you want, read the other posts and feel free to get in on the lively discussion. I'm posting this article on this site, because I believe it addresses very real societal and cultural ideas and assumptions that affect our everyday lives and do not just belong to the areas of academia or theology. Let me know if you disagree.]
Objective Truth & Morality
The ideas mentioned in the previous post of transcendent ethical principles (and not simple behavioral norms) and a hierarchy of those principles (and not simplistic applications) within ethics are nothing new to Philosophy. Those enough could show the overly simplistic nature of the usual argument concerning general Christian ethics made when talking about slavery in the Bible. The Bible does not have simplistic do/don’t do ethics. It has consistent transcendent principles that are then wisely and faithfully applied in ways that look differently throughout history. This is the way that ethics works, even on a secular level. But, these are not uniquely Christian. There are ways that Christianity and the Bible uniquely further inform our ethics.
The first thing, and the most important thing I want everyone to get from this post is that neither the Bible nor historic Christianity believes in Objective Morality or Objective Truth. This is an idea of modernism. Modernism redefined “Truth” to mean anything that has a one-to-one correspondence with created reality. An unintended consequence of this mindset was that the only vehicles for Truth, then, became history and science. This meant that anything that called itself “true” had to be speaking in either historical or scientific terms — nothing else. Christians were influenced by these ideas and then began defending the Bible on the basis of these assumptions (best example: Creation “science”). This even seeped into many Christian articulations of Morality (“there is only one set of ‘good things’ people everywhere, at all times, should do”). But this is not the Biblical view of Truth nor Morality. The Biblical view is not that of objective Morality/Truth, but of an objective standard for Morality/Truth. This is such an important distinction. The Bible relocates Truth and Morality as anything that has a one-to-one correspondence with Ultimate Reality — the nature and character of God. This exists outside of created reality (and therefore outside the realms of history and science). In that case art, poetry, stories, myths, and even children stories can now fully be relied upon for truth and moral principles even if they have little or no basis in history, science, or universal applications of the ethical principles. There is an objective standard for Morality and Truth that is now subjectively applied by using wisdom, discernment, discourse, debate, intellectual thought, and engagement — not naive cut and paste applications of the Bible to life.
“Lord . . .”
artwork and article by Michael Meulstee (click for larger image)
I sit down to write as a way to reflect. At this very moment in my life when there is no other thing to be certain about besides your provision and grace I cling to that and I pray that my sin will not cause me to mishear what you’re doing to shape and mold me into something better than myself.
I feel a sense of Déjà vu; this time last year when I needed your help, your wisdom, more than anything I needed your comfort; you came through in only ways that you can. You took my lack of trust, my discomfort, my fear and blew it away. Took it away and returned with trust that all the promises I made in those prayers; in those talks where I talked at you rather than talked with you… you trusted me, you trusted I would keep my word. You trusted that all of those fearful, manipulative and selfish things that I said would ultimately be used for your good. I said and promised so many things; if you would just come through for me on this one thing… if you just helped me once more I would be a better believer; I would read more; I would pray more; witness more; serve more; do. more.
The Infinite Beauty of Beauty
A nine-month old brain child concerning Beauty and many of its components is finally done being birthed on a blog. Come see…
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In about January of this past year, I received word that seven months from then, in August, I would be giving a message at Epiphany Fellowship on the topic of Beauty, of all things. This terrified me and I immediately began listening to every lecture, reading every article, and checking out every book in the library on the topic to prepare. Then I began working on the manuscript for this message. By the time I finished, I had produced a 43-page manuscript for a 40-minute message. The message answers several questions: Why we long for Beauty? What is Beauty? What Things are Beautiful? and How do we respond to Beauty?
The message went really well, but of course, a lot was cut out of the full manuscript for the sake of time. For that reason, a couple of months ago, I started a series on my blog that went through the various sections of the manuscript in bite-sized chunks, so that others could read it. Well, yesterday, three months after the original message was given, I finished that series on my personal blog and I wanted to plug it to the readers of this site. Below, you’ll find a complete directory of the fourteen parts of the series, along with links to the full audio and original manuscript that the message was based upon. I hope this is helpful and edifying to all of you. Be sure to send feedback, as I hope to build this out even more in the future, perhaps into a book-length project. We’ll see. Enjoy.
bright as yellow
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Time has had its way with me, my broken, tired hands can’t build a thing…
Coffee’s a murdering bitch, you know? It started with the arrhythmias, sometime in Oh-Three. They were added frustration on top of everything else: photo-synthesis, the commute, the roommate. Only she was my safe haven. Nothing more.
The idol of my days has won, the empty I have fed has made me numb…
It got worse sometime in the spring. A resting heart-rate under fifty is beautiful but not, when because, the ventricular muscle is shutting itself off every ten seconds. Thirty beats, maybe. Death was imminent one of these nights. You knew it. Falling asleep was hard and staying there even worse. Three hours a night was a good sleep. The contractions knifed from pectoral to shoulder-blade. Shallow breaths and bad dreams. Would I see her one more time before I was snuffed out and cast to Hades?
She was no Saviour — no matter how much you wanted her to be.
Save the nights your hollow dreams revealed the sweet release of death…
A scant twenty hours ago this idol was threatened. Despair sweeps in, rustling restlessness from its slumber while six-dollar nicotine bathes your grey lungs at eighty-five-miles-per-hour. The interstate is clear and the wash of sleep still seems so far away. To-morrow is ruined. Who cares about to-morow – what about to-night? Will it ever expire?
In the emptiness of broken flesh, the mercy of the thorns…
Along the river. Finally. This is where you wanted to be from the get-go. It only took ninety minutes of frantic free-way driving to find a place only a mile from home, if that. One more smoke while you let Him have it. Trust is your flaw; at least with this man-made god. It becomes so weak that the vapid space in your chest now desires to cease its rhythmic ticking. The near fatal flaw of six years ago would be a welcome addition right about now. The cherry draws near and you’re out of words. Soon there will be peace and welcome sleep.
Redemption’s Song
I’m mostly a listener of the older hymns, but the lyrics of this song by Israel Houghton have grown on me…it’s like my life in a verse…everything from depravity to God’s Sovereign grace…I attempted to add scriptures to the parts of the verse…may God be glorified in the Redeeming work of Jesus Christ…
- I was lost.
- (Isaiah 53:6; Isaiah 6:5; Luke 15:24; Ezekiel 34:6; Romans 3:12,23)
- I was desperate and broken.
- (Genesis 8:21; Jeremiah 2:13; Psalms 51:5; John 3:19; Ephesians 2:1-2)
- Wounded heart.
- (Jeremiah 17:1,9-10; Ezekiel 36:26; Psalms 51:10,17; Mark 7:21)
- And the wounds were still open.
- (Ephesians 2:4-6; Romans 5:8, 7:5)
- That’s the way You found me.
- (Colossians 1:12-13; Romans 5:8; Luke 19:10; Matthew 9:13; John 10:16)
- Turn the page. By Your hand.
- (Romans 9:15-16; John 1:13; Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 1:4-5; John 15:16)
- Yesterday washed away as You write in the sand.
- ( John 8:1-11; Isaiah 53:4-5; Ezekiel 36:25; Romans 4:24-25; Hebrews 10:22
- My accusers.
- (Job 1:9-10; Luke 22:31-32; 1 Peter 5:8-9; Romans 8:1)
- Where are they?
- ( Romans 8:1-2; 31,33,34,35-39)
- One by one in the silence they all walk away. ..
- (Isaiah 54:17)
- And I will worship You
Upon My Brow
No sound is heard,
heart-soul mouth makes no objection,
no assertions,
lips dare not move in query.
Eyes form no tears for consolation,
heavily I bear your indignation.
Real, terribly,
upon my soul weighing, not crushing.
I sit, in silence
I sit, in ashes
this is right
the offense is real, I now contrite.
And when will this pass?
When you are pleased to allow it,
when from the darkness, you alight eyes and lift.
And how can the heart bear the displeasure of he, who formed earth and sea?
In patience, lest my enemies think they have won me in defeat.
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death and titans/death and taxes (an ode to zwan and crassness)
Everything just feels like rain…
There are these days, the cold and lonely April days (this reminds me of oh-seven) when a cigarette would be really nice. Had I not been so close to one hundred days, I surely would have smoked it. Maybe even a pack; all at once. Or one after the other. Seven minutes a piece. Done in one hundred and forty minutes.
That’s a lot of smoking. I coffee’d instead. (Prince, Bucks, Coffee Co – the girl there was cute. She liked my Bible.)
Lars loves Schrott crassness; it is no secret that none of us have tact.
There are days when you just wanna say it. They’re that shitty. But it’s always been true that when things go low, redemption is at hand and Christ is made sweet(er) than before. It is difficult to see though the fog that is now and it becomes suffocating. Time slows its high paced rhythm and seconds drag like months.
Tick. Tock. Tick…
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A Moment
[A Gilead-inspired short prose piece]
Today you awoke, and it was finally Autumn. Actually, it’s not that today is the first day of the Fall, but it’s the first day that you realized it. There you were at the Railway Station, surveying the huddled masses, nervously tapping each of your pockets. You were assuring yourself that all was in its right place. Then, the whistle. The train is coming.
The breeze picks up as the train nears, fronted by a Zephyr-like standard bearer. The gust begins to tug at your skirt, but your legs aren’t cold. The wooden platform rumbles, feeling like the deck of a ship at high seas as it moves with the coming cavalcade.
The Engineer is visible. There is the steam. The Engineer is invisible. The whistle, the whistle, three times the whistle blows. Smack!
Your book fell. You recover it from the linoleum floor. And what is that screaming noise? You look up. It is the birth pangs of tea, steaming and salient on your stove. You throw the blanket off of your legs, and onto the arm rest of your chair.
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thoughts.
We Welcome a New Contributor
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At the behest of Lady Monica Marusek I join your community of reformed hearts and revived minds. I am not a seminarian nor am I on my way to seminary, I join you as a fellow, lets say…redeemed worm. Whose end is that with all faculties: mind, heart, and soul and limbs alike, I may come to know, touch, taste and see, as grace allows, the depths of and implications of the good news. What I am is an artist, in a sense, more specifically a writer, so I confess, at first sight I believed this was a site for academia. Not as if there is a divorcing of the two, knowledge and art, but while perusing the archives of your former posts I found this posted by Paul, as he writes about the change of one’s state of being that is the basis of Reformed Theology,
But this has implications far beyond the theology of salvation. It means that Christians must have a passion that spills over from this change of being. It means that we must appeal to the whole man to increase their delight in God. It means this site must move from posts on the “Knowledge” of the Holy, to sweeping prose, poetry and musings. From deep theology that reveals who God is to soul-stirring poetry and meditations flowing from men and women forever impacted by their encounters with this revealed God.
..and my mind shouts Exactly!
This is what I have ascribed to, this is what then I will join you to do, to write prose and poetry that extols yet grapples with and stirs heart and mind for one end,
seeing Christ more clearly,
that he may be rightly treasured,
and duly glorified.
Pray it be done .
Free Anathallo Hymns to stir your heart
The point here at Reform & Revive is to show the world various expressions from the hearts of believers whose lives have been impacted by the truth of who God is (also known as “Theology”). We share the commitment that right doctrine will (and must) always lead to both right practice and worship.
Nothing I know of best encapsulates this idea more clearly than Hymns. They are some of the most passionate expressions of who God is, but they come from theologically informed minds. The hymns we still sing today are the ones that most resonate with us as expressions from a heart impacted by a clarity of doctrine and vision of the things of God.
That is why I’m putting this post up. The great band Anathallo, recorded an album of hymns a few years back. It is now out of print, so they allow it to be posted on sites and blogs to be given away for free. I just recently put this on my personal blog, so I want to extend this offer to the readership here at Reform & Revive. A free, amazing, album of hymns? Who can resist?
Here’s the link to the post where the album is.
May it stir your affections for Christ ever increasingly.
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Existential Angst of a Life Surpassing Glory
Entering in a new degree thereof
Against one’s will
I will be enabled
To live once more again
Ah, to live!
And give glory to the One who gives glory
To the meek
Of which
I am
Not
Yet . . .
Being thrust to moment to moment
In my life-long “awkward stage”
Into lives I don’t want to
But must,
and will,
for my will
Has been seized
And captured
By another.
Another so beautiful
All-wonderful
Satisfaction of satisfactions
Pleasure of pleasures
Joy of joys
Pain of pains.
Then one lost is now one found
Like the pink head
Of a plastic hippo
Whose heart is blue,
Whose unrenewed mind lies lonely at the bottom
Of a dirty garbage heap.
And the Renewed stands in silent reflection
Amidst the sounds of little children-
The sounds of an innocence they have not.
While dancing in circles swirling in safe adoration
Of a will they have not either
But may. At some appointed time.
As I sit.
In this park.
On this day.
With these thoughts.
On this heart.
And this mind.
Contemplating the eccentricities of a life
Lived with purpose
in the Already But Not Yet.
Sunday Morning thoughts
Lord do I praise Thee at all times? Is that Biblical, even? What is worship? That which declares and proclaims the Glory of God, through treasuring it, I suppose. Could Creation then worship? Could I, even when eating, drinking, and making merriment with fellow embattled saints come to treasure, declare, and proclaim all You Are, Say, and Be – Your Glory? Your Manifold Perfection breaking through my leisure and feast and satisfactions to be ushered in as a herald to Your coming Kingdom already at hand? Does this prose and poetry bring the Reality of You and Your Kingdom that much more into this world? Is this the way you made us – made this system – to work? This whole “Christianity” thing? Perhaps obedience is worship. Perhaps I must end this now and worship. Command what Thou will, and give what Thou commands.
In love,
Your favorite.
Adam Killed A Bird, But Jesus Brought Him Back
Now looking through the glass not dim, Coltrane all around;
he sets a tone of dissonance, rightly now it seems.
For as the beauty clothes me in, a tragedy is found:
woodchips below – a resting place – long for love supreme.
For there he lies with outstretched span, stricken by a car;
afflicted by our fallenness, and smitten by our thorns.
He struggles with the weight of pain, not getting very far.
To stop, release his spirit’s breath – give way to Death’s dark door.
I prayed a prayer, and thought some thoughts, and something in me burned.
Oh I see my Savior, the pains he took! For me: protect,
for prone to wander, weak I am, to that which I once yearned.
Until you did in me and Him- my soul: You resurrect.
Now to show He heard my prayer and strengthen my weak frame,
up pops the bird, into the air. My soul shall do the same.
When the moon blinds my eyes with its radiance in comparison to the deepness of the blue-black sky, and I attempt to fathom the vastness of the Milky Way and the galaxies beyond…
O for a thousand tongues to sing/My great Redeemer’s praise!
The glories of my God and King! The triumphs of His grace!
But how can I call for a thousand tongues when this one wretched soul cannot even bid every ounce of her being into focus on the praise of His name?
I identify with David when he cried, “Praise the Lord, O my soul!”
Soul! Praise His Holy Name!
Considering the beauty of the sky and stars that sing magnificent harmonies to the Creator, how can this sinful woman praise you?
…You, the King of the Universe.
I know the story. I remind myself daily. The Glorious God, lacking in nothing, chose to create a race of ultimately inglorious men and women.
We are told it was for His glory that we are created (Isaiah 43:1-7, 48:9-11)
With one of our first exercises of will we rebel. We aspired to become God.
Made from the dust of the earth (gen 2:7), with a lifespan like that of a blade of grass (ps 103:15-16), carrying the status of a maggot or worm (job 25:6) when compared to the majesty of God.
A worm! A worm attempted to become God!
Yet we are worse than maggots, more filthy than worms! Have worms rebelled against their Creator? Have they ever strived for autonomy? Have they disdained God by behaving as if He were inconsequential in their lives?
No.
So how can such a rebellious, despicable race as we bring glory to the Creator of the stars?
Listen: He will transform us. He will cleanse us from our sin. He will deliver us from our uncleanness. He will give us a new heart and a new spirit. He will put His laws within our hearts and cause us to obey His rules. And we will be His people and He will be our God. (Ez 36:21-32)
We are the benefactors of His glorification of Himself. Let us be ashamed of our iniquities. Let us not seek to be more than we are! Let boasting cease. Let us be nothing but a reflection of glory of our King.
And let us look to the Savior with Isaac Watts:
Alas and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I
Was it for sins that I had done
He groaned upon the tree
Amazing pity, grace unknown
And love beyond degree
My God why would
You shed Your blood
So pure and undefiled
To make a sinful one like me
Your chosen precious child
Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut His glories in
When Christ the mighty Maker died
For man the creature’s sin
Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear Cross appears
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness
And melt my eyes to tears
-amy
[Contributed by Amy Roberts]
